PrologueFor many years Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) has been building momentum causing great interest among the scholars, researchers, professionals and administrations all over the world as it is affordable, reliable, scalable, and security-rich and runs on the widest variety of hardware platforms. This interest has helped in advocating the usage of FOSS in both the Public and Private sectors organizations. Particularly, it has been realized that Free & Open Source Software is a highly effective vehicle for the transfer of wealth from the industrialized world to developing countries. Pakistan government has acknowledged this fact and is striving to convince organizations to adopt FOSS for their sustainable development and socio-economic growth. Unfortunately, in spite of government announced initiatives and extensive campaigning efforts, the adoption of FOSS in the local industry is very slow. Lack of awareness and technical support could be the two major causes of this sluggish pace. For this reason, we are teaming up with educational institutions and government authorities to launch a three days national awareness campaign to address the issues regarding lack of FOSS familiarity among IT professionals, availability & reliability of FOSS training, and availability of local expertise for FOSS and international support. We believe the campaign will create a lasting impact on the industry and help government to achieve its targets regarding the adoption of FOSS.

Objectives“Free & Open Source Software Awareness Campaign 2005” is a three day event organized to promote nationwide awareness about the benefits of Free and Open Source Software and to persuade organizations and individuals of Pakistan to use Free & Open Source Software.”

Target AudienceThe event will be arranged for IT professionals, government officials, business community, academic scholars, students and general public.

Outcomes & Benefits• Professionals from various organizations, students, and general public will get awareness about the benefits of Free and Open Source Software.
• Organizations and individuals will be persuaded to use Free &Open Source Software for their sustainable development.
• Professionals, students, and general public will get free short term training to begin using Free &Open Source Software.
• Participants will receive free CDs containing a collection of free &open source utility software along with operating system.
• Awareness about issues regarding Intellectual Copyright Law and pirated software in Pakistan will be promoted.
• Government, academia, public and private sector organizations, industry, NGO’s, and other will gather under one roof to achieve the national goal regarding Free and Open Source Software.

Objectives“Free & Open Source Software Awareness Campaign 2005” is a three day event organized to promote nationwide awareness about the benefits of Free and Open Source Software and to persuade organizations and individuals of Pakistan to use Free & Open Source Software.”

Anything in pipline to mark the same event in Karachi, Peshawar, Quetta etc etc ?

I went there entered the venue waited for it to begin and suddenly someone announced that only persons with yellow card are allowed to sit..i went to him and told that im already in and that was my fault he told me to go out without describing what the hell that yellow card was and how could i get one... any way i felt like i was not welcomed so i returned back home....

I didnt felt any sense of Open Source spirit over there..........
Do any one expect me to go to any of such event to get disgraced in end..

gh4z4nf4r wrote:I went there entered the venue waited for it to begin and suddenly someone announced that only persons with yellow card are allowed to sit..i went to him and told that im already in and that was my fault he told me to go out without describing what the hell that yellow card was and how could i get one... any way i felt like i was not welcomed so i returned back home....

I didnt felt any sense of Open Source spirit over there..........Do any one expect me to go to any of such event to get disgraced in end..

Hi,
Such campaign should be carried out more and more to increase the awareness of the open source software. Linux is the best operating system free from viruses. We should always try to use free software like Linux then whatever the flavour it may be.